title: Melatonin ameliorates chronic mild stress induced behavioral dysfunctions in mice.
abstract: Melatonin, a neurohormone, is known to regulate several physiological functions, especially the circadian homeostasis, mood and behavior. Chronic exposure to stress is involved in the etiology of human affective disorders, and depressed patients have been reported to show changes in the circadian rhythms and nocturnal melatonin concentration. The present study was conducted to evaluate a possible beneficial action of chronic night-time melatonin treatment against chronic mild stress (CMS) induced behavioral impairments. As expected in the present study, the stress exposed mice showed reduced weight gain, hedonic deficit, cognitive deficits and decreased mobility in behavioral despair test. Interestingly, CMS exposed mice showed less anxiety. Chronic night-time melatonin administration significantly ameliorated the stress-induced behavioral disturbances, especially the cognitive dysfunction and depressive phenotypes. In conclusion, the present findings suggest the mitigating role of melatonin against CMS-induced behavioral changes, including the cognitive dysfunctions and reaffirm its potential role as an antidepressant.
authors.affiliation: NeuroBehavior Laboratory, Division of Radiation Biosciences, Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences, Delhi, India.
authors.forename: Seenu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Haridas
authors.forename: Mayank
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.forename: Kailash
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Manda
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002492:Central Nervous System Depressants / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D003863:Depression / Q000188:drug therapy*; D004435:Eating / Q000187:drug effects; D046353:Immobility Response, Tonic / Q000187:drug effects; D008297:Male; D008550:Melatonin / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D051379:Mice; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000187:drug effects; D021641:Recognition, Psychology / Q000187:drug effects; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000523:psychology
chemical_list: D002492:Central Nervous System Depressants; D008550:Melatonin
keywords: Anxiety; Behavior; CMS; CPSCEA; Chronic Mild Stress; Chronic mild stress; Cognition; Committee for the Purpose of Control and Supervision of Experiments on Animals; Depression; FST; Forced Swim Test; IAEC; IST; Indian Standard Time; Institute's Animal Ethical Committee; MT; Melatonin; NORT; Novel Object Recognition Test; OFT; Open Field Test; PSU; Percentage Sucrose Uptake; SAD; SMA; Seasonal Affective Disorder; Spontaneous Motor Activity